Founding member of Port Cities, Carleton Stone is an award-winning artist, songwriter, and producer based in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. 

Preparing for a new solo release in June 2022, Carleton is about to share the single, “Monte Carlo,” a nostalgic reflection on the sacrifices parents make for their children, as well as the ones musicians make to pursue their careers.

An emotional blend of folk and classic singer-songwriter influences, “Monte Carlo” features lyrics that are about “the things in our past that aren’t around anymore, or the dreams you might have had when you were young that haven’t come to fruition in the way you hoped,” explains Stone.

For over a decade, international touring artist and award-winning songwriter Matt Epp has been the quintessential troubadour of the Canadian prairies, who has won the admiration of an audience that spans the globe.

His new single, “Made For Love” was written on a bright, sunny day last winter. While Matt was staying at a friend’s converted old rural church dubbed “the Art Church,” sunlight was streaming through the tall stained glass windows in the chapel. 

“I remember spinning around the room, playing 12-string guitar and smiling so big and laughing as I played,” said Matt. “The song came out so quickly – I didn’t think twice about any lyric – they just came out the way that they did. The process was so fun and inspired that I didn’t want to change a thing about it when I did the final recording.”

Through earthy Americana and laidback soul, songwriter Charissa gets real about heartbreak, true love, pain, and ecstasy, with lyrics that testify to well-earned wisdom far beyond her years. That vulnerability, combined with lush, flowing arrangements, makes her emotional debut EP, Love and Be Loved (Mar 25), a deeply affecting introduction to one of the most spellbinding new voices in roots music.  

She bares her whole soul on Love and Be Loved, produced by Colin Cripps (Blue Rodeo member, Jim Cuddy Band) and supported by an impressive list of collaborators that includes Jessica Mitchell, Tom Wilson, Jesse O’Brien, and Carrie DeMaeyer.

The weighty, enchanting title track proves to be the record’s most powerful moment, as Charissa’s soulful voice rises alongside resonant piano, celebrating the magic of time spent with your person. “How wonderful it is to love and be loved,” she noted. “When I thought about that more, it led me to think about not only romantic love, but all kinds of love. That’s a beautiful sentiment to put out into the world – to give love and feel it in return.”  

Nova Scotian singer-songwriter Daniel James McFadyen began his musical journey by playing at small, bustling pubs in and around the Annapolis Valley. Daniel’s music began to gain popularity after the release of his single “Goin’ Back (The Wolfville Song),” an ode to the small town where Daniel began playing music professionally. Daniel now has 2 EP’s under his belt and his most recent album “August, I’m Yours” is nominated for an East Coast Music Award.

“The song is inspired by a man I met in Guatemala while I was playing there a few years back,” Daniel explains. “I was playing at a bar on Lake Atitlan in a small town called San Marcos La Laguna. While I was playing, a small man with long black hair approached the stage with a bongo drum; he seemed eager to play. I signaled for him to come on-stage and he joined me. We played for hours together only communicating through music and I found it amazing that he was able to adapt to any style he heard while having no context for this western music.”

Daniel tried to communicate with the man in English and Spanish, with no luck. Later, he asked the bartender about the man and found out that the bongo player was from a small village of only a few hundred people who preserve their Ancient Mayan tongue. 

“It was hard to imagine being in a situation when I could only properly communicate with a few hundred people for the rest of my life,” said Daniel. “A few years later I returned to the lake and I was not able to find the man and the bar had closed down, and I did not even know his real name. It was then I came up with the name “Mr. Lipless” and decided to write a song about him.”

Dilettante, meaning “amateur of the arts,” is the semi-deadly-serious moniker of a quintet that reflects like a seasoned collective, only to laugh like absolute beginners. 

Flirty and cheeky, their latest single “Donna” marries the easy feelings of innocence and goofiness with the exciting, dramatic feeling of “now or never.” Donna brings disco drama, a fictional muse wearing tight leather pants that one might encounter on a glowing dancefloor.

Dilettante’s self-titled debut effort arrives May 2022, a modulated cabaret that tests how wryly powerful pop can be. Bittersweet throwback bops create technicolor characters that shake and glimmer like the last sequin clinging to an attic-bound jumpsuit; then, thumping ballads croon and cry like dancing slowly, alone in the spotlight with all of your closest friends. Expect fantastic double harmonies, pulsing bongos, rolling low-end, and show-thieving synth leads.

Hailing from Canada’s North in the Yukon, Speed Control is the rock band that can make you move—even at minus 40 degrees. Brothers Graeme and Jody Peters are joined by members Eric Holland and Greg McLaughlin to bring new, riff driven rock to the world.

“Mr Romance is about feeling like you’re letting everyone down,” shares the band about their new release, “but hoping to show them that you’re not crazy – you can do this.”